Now that the time for filing nominations for the Lok Sabha elections has come, most Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates are looking to the stars to decide the right time to do it.
The candidates are banking on their trusted astrologers to give them the right date and time to file nominations.
Senior BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri, a veteran of many elections and the party?s LS candidate from South Delhi, says consulting stars and astrologers before filing nominations was a routine affair for most candidates.
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?Such is our culture and religion that before beginning an auspicious work, we tend to consult our panditji or astrologer. For us, election is a ?yagna?. My astrologer had given me two dates ? March 18 and March 22 ? to file my nomination. I will be filing it on March 22,? he said.
Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan too has consulted his astrologer to fix the time for filing his nomination for the Chandni Chowk seat. ?He will be filing his nominations on March 21 as the day had come up as auspicious for him,? a close aide of Harsh Vardhan said.
BJP?s candidate for West Delhi Pravesh Verma too is not ruling out the luck of auspicious dates.
?A belief in planetary positions will not hurt. My wife Swati is a believer and she has consulted astrologers to find out the auspicious time for me to file my nomination. I will be doing that on March 20,? Verma said.
BJP?s candidate from East Delhi Maheish Girri, a debutant, said checking planetary alignments before filing nominations is a must.
?I am a believer and since I became a practitioner of the ?Art of Living?, my trust in positive energies has strengthened. The first thing I did was to consult my trusted astrologer for the date to file my nomination papers. I believe it will help me in winning this election,? Girri said.
Manoj Tiwari, the BJP candidate from Northeast Delhi, said Friday was a good day to start his campaign.
?I have consulted my astrologer and since he believes that Friday is a good day to start auspicious work, I will file my nomination on Friday,? he said.
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